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[Pages H8831-H8832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RISING PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, November 8, the Department of
Health and Human Services announced that the new Medicare part B
premiums starting in January 2020 will increase by $9.10 a month, a 6.7
percent increase over last year.
In dollars and cents, this means that premiums will go to $144.60 a
month, up from $135 a month. As seniors know all too well, that $144
will be deducted automatically from their Social Security checks, which
is a bitter pill given the fact that Social Security itself is slated
only to rise by 1.6 percent starting January 1.
Very simply, that $9-a-month increase for millions of seniors will
chew up a large part of any COLA that they can possibly receive
starting in January.
So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to footstop that point about the fact
that the Social Security system's COLA, which is tied to general
inflation in the economy, is going up 1.6 percent; whereas, the
Medicare part B premium, which is tied to healthcare costs, is going up
6.7 percent.
This is something that we know is endemic throughout the healthcare
system. In the State of Connecticut, the Department of Insurance
increased commercial insurance rates, that went up again above
inflation, and identified the fact that prescription drug cost was the
primary cost driver.
The Center for Medicare Services last Friday, when they announced the
Medicare part B premiums, also confirmed the fact that it is
prescription drug costs that are driving that 6.7 percent increase.
The increase in prescription drug costs that Medicare paid from 2018
to 2019 was 10 percent, and they are projecting that it is going to go
to 10.10 percent in 2020; thus, we have a $9 increase coming up in
terms of people's premiums.
This is not going to come as a great surprise to the American people.
If you go back to last year's election in 2018, the exit polls showed
that the number one issue that people cared about and were concerned
about and wanted Congress to act on was healthcare costs--more
specifically, prescription drug costs.
That was an election that had the largest voter turnout since 1914 in
a midterm election and elected a new majority with a 10-million-vote
plurality.
So, that is the context that we are in right now, at a moment where
this Congress, and particularly the House of Representatives, is poised
to take up H.R. 3, which is the Lower Drug Costs Now Act. And in the
midst of all the media focus on impeachment, it is important to know
that the committees that have cognizance over healthcare--the Ways and
Means Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Education
and Labor Committee,
[[Page H8832]]
on which I sit--reported out basically the same version of H.R. 3.
And it is, again, a matter of just a couple of weeks for the
Congressional Budget Office to finish scoring the bill that we are
going to take up that measure for a vote.
What does it do? It basically unhandcuffs the Department of Health
and Human Services to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies. By
law, they have been prohibited, with what is called the noninterference
clause, from negotiating lower drug prices.
The VA system has been negotiating prescription drug costs for
decades, and, in fact, they get a much better price for veterans in
America than the folks who, again, are covered by Medicare.
So that noninterference clause is going to be scaled back. DHS is
going to be able to negotiate the 250 highest brand-name drug costs
tied to an international price index--because America pays the highest
drug costs by far. The next highest country is Switzerland, and they
pay 25 percent less than we do here in the U.S.
Again, what do those savings mean in terms of folks on Medicare?
Already CBO has told us, for people on part D, which is the outpatient
prescription drug benefit, they, again, will see a reduction in the
out-of-pocket costs, which today are unlimited in terms of any
copayments that they are paying for medications. That will be capped at
$2,000.
I have a constituent up in Killingly, Connecticut; she is a retired
teacher. She has AFib. She is on Medicare part D. It has been a great
help to her. But those copayments, because the AFib medication is so
expensive, cost her $13,000 a year.
That will be brought down to $2,000 a year if we pass H.R. 3, and
that is just one example of the benefits--$350 billion in savings to
Medicare over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Again, this is a program, Medicare, which is slated to go into
negative territory, according to the trustee, starting in 2026. We are
giving a $350 billion lifeline to Medicare to make sure that it is an
enduring program moving forward in the future.
That is why organizations like AARP, the National Committee to
Preserve Social Security and Medicare, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic
Social Justice, Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, and the Small
Business Majority are supporting H.R. 3.
It is time to sit up and pay attention to what just happened last
week to Medicare and pass H.R. 3 for America's patients and seniors.
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